A wolf's Tale
by belgarion363
Summary: after the battle at Orochimarus base naruto takes a walk in the forest and finds something he never expected... the zenneth of the moon the golden eye what does it mean? naru/hina OC/saku
1. A fox and a wolf

Belgarion363

Hey this is Belgarion363 this is my first shot at a story so tell me what you think thx, possible pairings but I haven't decided and there is an OC and if you don't like him too bad. By the way I'm going to have Naruto smart when alone and an idiot around people just because I can. :P

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto I'm just doing this for fun and something to do in my spare time so don't sue! Also please read and review if your of mind, flames will be ignored or sent back with my own personal spite (you have been warned.) any way on with the chapter :)

A Wolf's Tale

(Title subject to change, (Because I'm picky so there))

*flash* Sasuke standing on a cliff, *flash* Sasuke in front of Kyuubi in the sewer, *flash* Sasuke vanishing in fire with Orochimaru.

With a gasp Naruto sat up panting. It was that dream again the dream about Sasuke standing there with that snake bastard Orochimaru; that dammed dream kept haunting him, why Naruto couldn't figure it out ever since Sasuke entered his mind he could see it, his face the face of his friend flashing before his eyes and burning away like that it left Naruto with an awful feeling in his gut.

Naruto tried to calm himself but failed finally giving up on trying to get some sleep he got up to go over to the stream nearby to wash the sweat from his face and hopefully feel better, he left the wooden house that Yamato taicho had built for them and wandered over to the stream and began to splash his face with water. When he was finished he stared at the rippling surface of the water his distorted reflection staring back at him he sighed and decided to take a walk.

The night was cool and the welcoming darkness seemed to envelop the surrounding trees seemed to draw in the light and smother it, a cool summer's breeze lightly brushed the leaves around him and seemed to create its own natural rustling music that accompanied the symphony that is the noises of the night. The low chirping of a night bullfrog lifted its voice to the nightly orchestra around the lonely wanderer that dared to trespass in the grand stage that is the night.

Naruto slowly wandered through the woods his feet making little noise as he passed; the sounds around him fell on his deaf ears as he cared not for where he was going or why or what was around him. As he wondered through the night Naruto found himself thinking over the last few days and continuously berating himself for not being stronger to bring his friend home, no not his friend… his comrade… his brother. Yet no matter how he cursed himself he could not shake the feeling that Sasuke did not want to come home, no he would not think that for to think that way would mean giving up and Naruto never gave up especially on a friend.

The further Naruto walked the less he recognized where he was and realized that during his wool gathering he managed to get lost "just perfect" he mumbled "now I'm lost and I have no idea where I am or where I'm going." He began to chuckle to himself half heartedly as he realized that it did not matter, because he knew that that was the way things always were for him his entire life. He began to look around to try and find out where he had come from to find his way back when he heard a rustling in the bushes, Naruto froze and reached for a kunai only to realize he had left them back at camp "well shit" he swore as he got into a fighting stance hoping that whatever was there was just an animal he could handle.

Naruto waited for whatever was there to come out, as he waited he could feel his sweat begin to build from the tension and roll down his neck. Just then a shadowy figure fell from the bushes in front of him and collapsed, Naruto jumped back a little getting ready to fend the thing off if it got to close but as his eye's adjusted to the light he realized it was a man badly wounded, Naruto cautiously moved forward to get a better look while at the same time keeping alert in case it was a trick, as Naruto got closer he could sense no illusion or ill intent so he finally dropped to the figures side and checked him over, and to put it simply he did not like what he saw, the figure had many cuts and bruises on his body and what appeared to be a broken arm, or at least that's what he could tell because he knew at the very least that an arm should not bend that way, Naruto carefully turned the figure over and realized it to be a younger teenage boy not much older than him. (Naruto is 16 for those that don't know.)

When Naruto to turned from the strangers face his eye's went wide as he saw the massive wound in the teens chest with part of a kunai that had broken off still the boy's chest, Naruto panicked and began picking the teen up to bring him back to Sakura for help. It was then that he realized that he was still lost, Naruto made a quick choice and made three shadow clones two to pick up and carry the boy as the third transformed into a stretcher to carry the boy. Naruto carefully placed the injured boy on the stretcher doing so as gently as possible so as not to aggravate the young man's injuries. With that done Naruto took to the trees as high as he could to get a look around. After a moment of searching Naruto caught the scent of burning wood, that smell most likely came from the fireplace of the cabin they were staying in. once he had pinpointed the direction Naruto leapt down and motioned for his clones to follow him in a general north easterly direction.

Three minutes of walking later they came to the small clearing where the cabin was. When he got there he found captain Yamato waiting for him with his arms crossed with a questioning look on his face. "Where have you been Naruto?" Yamato asked.

"I was taking a walk to clear my head because I couldn't sleep," Naruto said in a rush. "But while I was wandering around I found this guy all beat up he needs help he has a broken arm and a stab wound in his gut, we have to help him!"

Yamato looked past Naruto to the clones behind him holding the stretcher with the young man lying on it, and then back to Naruto's pained face. Yamato turned and motioned for Naruto to bring the boy inside. "I'll go wake Sakura we'll need her help." Yamato said.

"Hai"

Naruto quickly instructed his clones to bring the boy in to the cabin and into one of the empty rooms so that he could be looked at. Moments later Sakura came in with her medical pouch with a, no nonsense look on her face and motioned for Naruto to move aside, her hands already flying through the motions of a medical jutsu. The first thing she did was stabilize the wound in the youth's abdomen so the bleeding would slow so that she could carefully remove the broken kunai head that was still stuck in his wound, as she pulled the broken piece of metal out, her patient gave a grimace of pain even while unconscious.

While Sakura worked on the unknown youth Naruto could only stare with rapt fascination at the boy's face although not sure why he felt a strange recognition in him but could not explain why he felt this, for he had never met the wounded boy before. Yet Naruto could not look away something compelled him to look. As Naruto looked at him he saw a small glimmer at the boy's throat, when Naruto leaned in to look he saw that it was a small medallion not much bigger then a midsized coin, but it was not the disc itself that caught his eye, it was what was on the medallion that truly made him stare. On the surface of the small silver disc was the image of a wolf sitting on his haunches lifting its head in a howl. Naruto carefully reached for it and turned the small disc over, and found the kanji word for seal on the back.

"Just who are you" Naruto said to himself.

TBC.


	2. the cherry blossoms wolf

Chapter 2

hello faithful readers sry for the atroucious wait but im a lazy bugger and i know it, anyway heres the new chapter and i hope you like it and i will try too update faster but i make no garuntees

-OC POV-

Pain…

That's the first thing that registered in his mind, just endless searing pain. Then there was nothing, as though it was just switched it off like a light in a room. Then there was that voice, a voice he could not place, yet it was comforting but he didn't know why.

'_Who are you?_' it asked.

It was the first voice he had heard in a long time. And he was not sure how to respond. The voice was deep and powerful yet wise beyond understanding of it. He called out.

'_What? Where are you?_'

'_Who are you?_' it asked again

'_I don't understand.'_ he replied.

'_It is too soon then.'_ it replied sadly, '_remember… Okami. (Wolf)'_

All at once there was a rushing sensation as if his body was flung through the air by a great force yet he felt no pain from it.

*gasp* air rushed into his lungs as he sat up quickly, but regretted the action instantly as he felt extremely dizzy afterwards. Clutching his aching head in his hand, only to find that his left arm was in a splint.

'How did that happen?' he thought

After looking at his now splinted left arm he began to take in his surroundings. He was in a room with a single oil lamp that glowed just enough to illuminate the room to get a look around. The walls were a light brown color like that of bark from an old tree yet they were smooth, the floor had just a simple wooden floor with nothing special to it almost as if the owner of the house had made it slap dash or had simply chosen not to finish the floor properly, there was little furniture in the room only a single shelf off to the left of the room. In the middle is where he lay in a simple bed, with a small cushion next to him as if someone had been sitting there.

The soft thudding of footsteps reached his ears and he turned to the door in time to see it slide open, to reveal a woman standing there with jade green eyes, and soft pink hair standing in the doorway.

"Oh, your awake, how do you feel?" she asked while coming over to sit next to him.

Instantly he was on guard and ready to flee if necessary. The pink haired woman stopped walking towards him when she saw this she forced herself to stop and put her hands up in a placating way to show the injured boy that she meant no harm, she then continued to slowly moving forward in a very cautious step.

The wounded boy slowly settled but never let his guard down his mind still racing through the survival mode it was in, as the strange haired girl got next to him she slowly knelt onto the cushion to sit next to him, he continued to watch her as she moved, while at the same time she moved just as slowly to avoid startling him. He watched as she reached into the pouch at her lower back and he tensed but she only pulled out a small container of cream, and he slowly relaxed, the whole situation was very aggravating for him having to remain on guard all the time and then relaxing but his instincts would not let him do anything else.

"Here" she said "Let me see you I just want to help you I'm a medic."

That statement did little to ease his tension but he let her do what she needed to do as he realized that her scent held no ill intent.

She smiled seeing him allow her to move as she slowly undid the bandages around his chest to look over his wounds. As the bandages fell away the pink haired medic gasped at what she saw.

It was not possible, it was unreal, there was just no way she, had only seen healing of this level on Naruto so what the hell was he, was he possibly a… but there was no way he could be a... jinchuuriki? But even a jinchuuriki like Naruto would not be healed this quickly he would at least have some smaller wounds on him left over so what the hell is going on

"Something wrong?" the boy enquired as she stared at his toned chest like she had never seen one before.

The pinkette looked up and blushed for being caught staring at him and pulled away from him and shook her head, though she was still amazed she could say nothing for what she saw. The wound in his chest from the kunai was completely gone and she had only removed the broken blade not three hours ago there was just no way a wound of that level could heal that way so what was he? Was it some kind of bloodline? Was it only an illusion (she doubted that very much)? So what the hell was going on?

These questions and many more ran through Sakura's mind until she was snapped out of her musings as her patient began to stand.

"He...Hey wait what are you doing your in no shape to be getting up." She commanded.

The teen looked at her like she was not quite right in the head he always healed after sleeping didn't she know that, and then it hit him maybe she didn't, she was a new person and this was not his cell so of course she would not know about his body and it's healing habits. He would have to look into the change in accommodations further with his _Keepers_ oh how he hated them, but due to that dam seal there was little he could do. He decided to look into the issue later and just sat back down but did nothing more as he waited.

-Sakura POV 2 hours earlier-

"Mmmhhhhm" Sakura mumbled.

She had had a long night and a tiring mission and a stress full not to mention emotional last few days and just wanted to sleep but her body was doing what it wanted by instinct, that was the problem of having been trained by a medic (more like death) nin like lady Tsunade, she snapped the rest of the way awake when she heard Naruto shouting about an injured that he had found. The pinkette had begun to quickly gather her medical supplies as Yamato- taicho explained some of the injuries he had seen and what was wrong, at his description she began to move faster, when she was ready she came into the room Naruto and Sai were in with the strange boy.

She quickly kneeled next to the injured youth and began her diagnostics on the stranger's body. What she found was daunting even for her but she was also shocked at the fact that some of the wounds described to her were not as severe as originally indicated but no less troubling she also detected traces of a poison in his system.

The pink haired medic began to work more diligently but as she began to focus she was brought of her thoughts as a hand reached forward to pick up a medallion she had not even noticed before laying on her patients' body before Naruto's voice brought her out of her thoughts as he said

"Just who are you?"

That statement puzzled the girl but she pushed it back to focus on the task at hand.

"Naruto move out of the way please I need to concentrate on him" she barked with authority.

"Huh" was the intelligent response she got "oh… sorry Sakura-chan."

Had it been another time and had she had the opportunity to think on it she would have caught the way he said it in that subdued tone but she ignored it to look over later.

"You know dickless, you should let the banshee work if you want her to save this person" said the emotionless brick that was Sai. She made a mental note to pummel him later about the comment but had to focus on her task as Naruto got into a scuffle with the pasty faced boy, at least until captain Yamato gave them both his scary face and had them both leave the room so Sakura could concentrate.

"Thanks Yamato-taicho" she said as she continued to work on closing the wound in the boy's chest after having removed the kunai shard from the wound.

"No problem Sakura-san" he responded. "So how is he?"

"Not too good but I think he'll live but barley if Naruto had found him any later he may have died" she said but then added "but it would not have been from his wounds if I'm getting this right I would have been from the poison in the kunai shard in him."

"What? Are you sure? Because being stabbed in the stomach is not that survivable you know" he replied a little confused

"not entirely but if I'm reading his chakra right then the wounds themselves were already beginning to close the only thing hindering him or killing him was the kunai poison which I removed." The medic said "The really strange part is that I'm getting the same feeling I'm getting from this man and the feeling I get when I heal Naruto, almost as if he has an accelerated healing factor in him. But that does not make sense unless he has the same thing as Naruto and is a jinchuuriki."

"Hmm that is interesting can you determine what it is or feel anything strange about his chakra paths?"

"Not really but I won't know for sure until we get back to Konoha to do some proper tests and have Tsunade-shishou look at him."

"I see very well do what you can with him and let me know what you find, I will think on this for a while and send a messenger clone ahead to inform lady Tsunade. In the mean time keep an eye on him the best you can and let me know if he wakes"

"Hai."

With that Yamato got up and left to send his clone then get some rest.

After he left Sakura sighed and continued to work on the strange youth. After exhausting her chakra healing what she could, given that she was already exhausted from the day's activities that it wasn't much but she at least made sure he would not die on her, she began to bandage his wounds and splint his leg. When she was finished she took another look at the medallion around the man's neck, it was gold and polished and looked well cared for, it was about the size of a midsized coin*, on the one side it had the image of a wolf head howling, at a small moon, the strange part is that the wolf looked so real that she almost thought it would turn and look at if she moved, on the other side of the medallion there were some symbols that looked like seals but different archaic almost ancient, how she knew this she wasn't sure, because she didn't know a lot about seals except for the more powerful ones used in healing.

She dropped the medallion at the sound of a groan from the man. She looked to him to see if he was waking but relaxed when he only shifted but she thought It was strange that he looked as if he were in pain.

'_Must be having a bad dream_' she thought

After the youth relaxed or seemed to she took a close look at his face, he had a strong jaw but soft too like he could be spoken to easily his eyes were smooth and rounded his cheeks firm and strong, his hair was silver gray like her chronically late sensei, but streaked in white as if he were old but he was only a teenager by the look of it.

Giving a yawn the pinkette decided to get some sleep scenic it was so late, as she made to leave the room she looked back at the wounded teen and sighed, she knew when he woke up it would be bad.

"Baka, Naruto always bringing me problems." she grumbled as she closed the door.

-1 and ½ hours later. -

Sakura woke up her brain on auto-pilot as she stumbled sleepily to the hall towards her patient's room once she reached the door she was now awake she put on a smile and opened the door.

When she looked in the room she found the boy was awake and alert he was looking at her carefully she smiled at him and said as kindly as possible while moving forward "oh, your awake, how do you feel?"

He instantly reacted and got crouched in a defensive position on all fours very similar to a cornered animal. Sakura immediately stopped when he moved and put her hands in the air in what she hopped was a calming gesture and very slowly moved forward to show she meant no harm to him.

When she finally sat on the cushion next to him Sakura noticed that he slowly moved to a sitting position and relax ever so slightly but was still on guard she slowly reached for her medic pouch where she kept her creams, salves and gauze, as well as other medic stuff. He seemed to tense again as she did so but when she revealed the healing cream she had he relaxed again.

'He's so high strung I wonder why?'

"Here let me see you I just want to help you, I'm a medic."

He eyed her carefully but slowly lifted his arms inviting her to move, she inwardly sighed in relief and smiled at him to help calm him, it didn't work, but none the less she continued to undo the bandages and what she saw made her gasp in surprise.

He was completely unmarked not a scratch was on him but that was not possible he should have had some wounds left over because even Naruto did not heal that fast. The only thing she saw was un blemished skin no marks no nothing only a well toned chest and abs… damn he had nice abs almost criminally good… damn.

"Something wrong?" the boy enquired as she stared at his toned chest.

Startled Sakura looked up and blushed as she looked into his golden eye's and blushed they were beautiful eye's, she slowly sat back and shook her head no but remained speechless at what she saw. The wound in his chest from the kunai was completely gone and she had only removed the broken blade not three hours ago there was just no way a wound of that level could heal that way so what was he? Was it some kind of bloodline? Was it only an illusion (she doubted that very much)? So what the hell was going on?

These questions and many more ran through Sakura's mind until she was snapped out of her musings as her patient began to stand.

"He...Hey wait what are you doing your in no shape to be getting up." She commanded.

-General POV-

The teen looked at her like she was not quite right in the head he always healed after sleeping didn't she know that, and then it hit him maybe she didn't, she was a new person and this was not his cell so of course she would not know about his body and it's healing habits. He would have to look into the change in accommodations further with his _Keepers_ oh how he hated them, but due to that dam seal there was little he could do. He decided to look into the issue later and just sat back down but did nothing more as he waited.

"Who are you?" he asked breaking the silence

"Oh my name is Sakura, Haruno Sakura chuunin of Konohagakure no sato. The pinkette said "what's your name?"

Eyeing her carefully he says. "Ketto, Okami Ketto."

'Wolfs blood that's an odd name' Sakura thought as she looked at him then she noticed a flicker of light off his chest and saw the medallion that hung around his neck, the candle light gave it a mystical quality as if it held its own kind of power, as she stared at it she swore the wolf head moved, but it had to be a trick of the light, it had to be… right?

"Why have I been moved?" Ketto asked bringing Sakura out of her thoughts about the trinket

"Huh?" was her response, as she tilted her head to the side to only further confirm her confusion. "You were just brought here by my teammate Naruto you were really badly hurt when he found you so he brought you to me to be healed."

Puzzled he looked down trying to figure out what had changed for him to be out his cell, wait did she say Konoha, 'damn it' he cursed himself for not seeing that before, he was so concerned about the change in scenery that he completely missed that she was not one of his _Keepers'_ pets, she was far too kind for that.

"Um are you ok?" she asked.

He glanced at her, finally taking in her appearance she wore a red zip up sleeveless shirt slightly open at the top, with black shorts covered by a tan short skirt, and bands around her elbows. Sticking out of her pocket he could see a pair of leather black gloves, and her kunai holster on her right leg over some bandages finally at the top of her head he saw a strip of red cloth that he assumed was her Hitai-ate though he could not see the plate, it appeared to be holding her hair back.

"I'm fine" he said in a clam tone, then proceeded to ask "why are you helping me?"

The teen smiled at him in a warm way. "Well I certainly wasn't going to let you die in the middle of the woods, and you definitely made an interesting impression on my teammate so..." she ended with a shrug.

He stared at her in mild surprise, he was not expecting kindness after what he had gone through but then again she was not connected to his _Keeper's_ so perhaps this was alright, a lite thudding of footsteps alerted him that someone was coming and he turned towards the door, which prompted the girl to look as well.

The door slid open to reveal….

well theres the chapter hope it was worth the wait and if you feel like reviewing please do and tell me on how i can improve the story (being clear: please don't tell me who the characters should be hooked up with because i probably wont have too much romance anyway also only tell me weather you liked the style of writeing or if i should add some comedy which may come later or if i should do some thing else thx) so read review and tell lots of friends


	3. Meeting Konoha

**Chapter 3**

The door slid open to reveal...

A spiky blonde haired youth (A/N: be honest you thought it was something weird right?) with strange whisker marks on his cheeks, but most startling of all were his bright blue eye's he had never seen eye's so blue or so happy yet sad at the same time.

As they stared at each other for a moment the blonde seemed to be sizing him up but he could not be cretin, and just as he was about to ask 'what' the new teen spoke.

"Hey I see that Sakura-chan managed to get you up and going again."

Ketto just looked at him but slowly nodded. They continued to stare at each other for another moment until the local medic asked "is there something you need Naruto?"

The blonde blinked for a moment then looked at his teammate and responded with an intelligent response of "huh?"

The pink haired girl sighed in exhaustedly then repeated her question.

"Oh no I just wanted to see how things were going and to see if the guy was up or not, and I guess I answered my question." he smiled putting his hands behind his head as he made his way into the room.

Ketto tensed but remain still as the blonde got closer remaining on guard should he be attacked, the blonde teen noticed the movements and stopped a few from him with a concerned look on his face then flashing a grin and poking his thumb to his chest he declared "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, nice to meet ya, I found you in the forest all beat up and thought you could use some help, so what's your name?"

For a moment of surprise Ketto just stared at this new strange boy wondering what was wrong with him until he remembered that he was not in his _Keepers' home. _So he replied as simply as before "my name is Ketto, Okami Ketto"

Naruto blinked at the abruptness of the statement then shrugged it off and asked "why were you beaten up like that? Are you a missing Nin or something, or a criminal? Or did you get caught in a bad fight?"

These rapid fire questions were startling to say the least since Ketto was not used to such energy coming from the people that he encountered, if he encountered them long enough to hold a conversation that is, but he was saved from answering these questions as Sakura came up and pounded the blondes head in while saying quietly "baka don't ask stupid questions until he's rested some more he's still recovering." She turned from the now defeated idiot back to Ketto "he does have a point though, if you want to rest here that's fine but as a precaution we will have to bind your hands and feet for security reasons, I'm sorry." She said almost dejectedly but with conviction to show that there was no negotiating the issue.

Ketto mulled this over in his mind for a moment and considered his options "I am in your debt for helping me and I bare you no ill will, so I will consent since I can tell that leaving would not be the best option at the moment even if I am healed."

Sakura's eyes widened for a second at the regality of his speech since before he seemed almost as tight lipped as her old crush Sasuke. But she simply smiled gently and said "thank you for understanding and your welcome for the help."

Sakura then began to move closer and began to remove the arm splint to check his arm and after poking it enough seemed satisfied that it was healed to not need another so she pulled a length of ninja wire out of her bag and carefully bound him so as not to hurt him but also made sure the binds were secure. As she worked Naruto asked "Do you want to come to Konoha with us you look like you could use a home?" Ketto's eyes widened at the thought but then thought bitterly that he could not because of what he was but the determination in the blonds eyes caught his attention and he stopped before saying "I … will think on this and give you an answer tomorrow." and with that he laid down and closed his eyes officially ending the discussion.

Naruto wasn't sure what to say to that so finally replied with "ok, good night" then rose and began to leave the room as Sakura finished her task and left as well blowing out the lamp as she went.

The next day dawned clear and bright, as the group began to pack up to get ready to leave, Ketto had been unbound and helped where he could but remained quiet until captain Yamato used mokuton to demolish the cabin.

"Holy shi..." Ketto exclaimed while flinching a little but soon settled down after noticing that the others were unaffected

"Have you never seen jutsu before?" asked Sakura concerned.

"Nothing of that level or style before no, how did you do that?" he marveled

Yamato just chuckled to himself "that is mokuton jutsu and only I can use it, it's what's called a kekkei genkai, to be able to use two elements together to make a new one."

"I have heard of them but never seen one like that before" Ketto stated

"Have you seen others?" Naruto asked?

"Well yes and no… I have seen one but not by someone else" he mumbled while looking to the ground and thinking about his own style of techniques and how he could use them.

"Are you saying that you have a kekkei genkai?" queried Sai

Ketto looked away in shame and was about to respond when the local knucklehead jumped in "you have a kekkei genkai cool can you show us, what does it do, can you use cool jutsu or use animals or, or maybe you have a doujutsu like the Hyuuga and can see stuff others can't oh that would be so cool!" Naruto babbled incessantly slightly scaring Ketto for having the blonde get so close to him like that.

**WHAM**

Sakura face planted Naruto into the ground for being an idiot. "Huff, at least let him speak before you scare him, sorry he's a little excitable about stuff like that." The pinkette said with a small smile

"Oww, Sakura-chaaan" Naruto mumbled from his place in the ground.

Ketto looked nervously at Sakura and Naruto wondering if he should just flee from the group of freaks right now but then thought bitterly 'what better place for a monster than with a group of freaks'. Sighing he said "I have one yes, but I never wanted it and it's given me nothing but trouble since it came out so I'd rather not talk about it." with that said he walked away a little and leaned against a tree facing away from the group.

Sakura was a bit shocked by the reaction and slowly walked up to him "were sorry we didn't mean to upset you we didn't know it was a sensitive subject." She said quietly putting a gentle hand on his shoulder

After sighing Ketto turned around again and looked ashamed of himself for getting upset "it's not your fault you didn't know and I just got a little flustered what with seeing the wood thing and being badgered like that I'm not used to people being so interested in me like that, most of the time people are afraid of me because when they see my power they fear me and some…" he drifted off slowly at the last part, then shook himself "but it's not important now so let's get going" he pushed off the tree and moved towards the others and waited to see which way they were going.

"So you'll come to Konoha with us?"Naruto asked happily.

Looking away slightly Ketto muttered "I will come with you for a time and stay for a while but I will probably have to leave soon after"

"Why is there somewhere you need to be?"Sai asked taking careful note of what was said in case it could be useful to Danzo-sama

"No, but I'm not normally welcome anywhere, where there are lots of people" Ketto said with spite while clenching his fist.

Naruto and Sakura looked at each other and then back at Ketto in sadness "well you won't have to worry about that in Konoha old Tsunade-baa chan will make sure you have a place to stay if you want." The blonde stated with conviction.

"Naruto don't call Tsunade-sama that!" lectured Sakura as she crossed her arms in a huff.

Ketto merely looked at them but said nothing; he turned to yamato as if to ask 'which way?'

Yamato simply smiled calmly and turned in what seemed a random direction to Ketto, but it seemed the right way as the others simply followed, they soon came to a road and began traveling along it to the southeast. As they walked Naruto matched pace with him and started talking to him.

"So, what kind of stuff do you like to do?" the blonde asked

It seemed like an innocent enough question, but after having lived through the life he had, Ketto was instantly suspicious of it and answered with a guarded tone. "I have never had time or the convenience to do as I pleased so I have nothing I like to do. Why?"

The blonde was taken aback by the answer and looked towards the ground as if in apology and said "sorry I just wondered if you wanted to hang out after we get to Konoha, I just had some questions and wondered if you wanted to spar?"

Ketto paused for moment searching the blondes face for any sign of deception but could find only interest and a small amount of hope on the boy's face, so mentally giving a shrug and thought 'what the hell, it's not like ill have anything better to do.' "I suppose, but what kind of questions did you have?"

The blonde looked up and smiled hugely and said "I just wanted to get to know you a little that's all and you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

"Alright I will answer what questions I can but if I do not answer please understand that it is something I do not wish to speak of, and that is all, I will not be offended by the question since I understand why you would ask certain questions and will accept them as mere curiosity and not interrogation."

The whiskered teen gave him a blank look. "You don't have to be so formal when you talk a simple 'go ahead' would have been fine sheesh." He said putting his hands behind his head and frowning, but then he grinned like it was nothing and began to ask his questions.

"Sooo what's it like having a bloodline?"

Ketto tensed for a moment before the blonde youth amended "not what it is but just do you feel different when you woke it or have you always had it?"

The silver haired teen paused for a moment before saying "I don't know how best to answer that question all I know is that my curse started when I was six and I have had it ever since."

"Curse? Why do you call it a curse, I mean I've seen lots of bloodlines and I gotta say to have any one of them would be way awesome."

Ketto's eye's narrowed for a moment before sighing realizing that the blonde simply did not understand his curse, and why it was seen as such. "Many bloodlines are very useful, and as you say awesome, mine however is anything but and I would prefer not to speak of it right now I am uncomfortable speaking about it."

"Oh, well, would you tell me one day?" Naruto asked hopefully.

The strange teen did not reply right away but came too an idea. "I will tell you, if you tell me why you smell of something more then what you are?"

Naruto stopped for a moment in a slight panic and asked in a worried tone "what do you mean 'I smell of something more?'"

Everyone else had been listening to the conversation, hoping to learn about the strange youth that was now traveling with them, and seemed to tense when Ketto had made his statement.

Looking at them all, it seemed to be some big secret about the strange smell that came from the blonde and decided not to push the subject.

Sakura spoke up saying "sorry Ketto but we can't discuss that and we hope you will understand that it is not something we can tell you without very special permission." as she said this she looked at Ketto with a powerful gaze yet at the same time, because of her scent, he could feel that she was sorry about the way she had to say it, Ketto realized that she probably did not even know that she was in fact sorry but no matter how good a shinobi was they could not hide their scent of how they were truly feeling.

"Very well I will not ask you to tell me." The young man said before turning to the blonde again "instead I will ask that you wait before asking me about my curse again."

Naruto was a little caught off guard by the sudden change in topic again but merely smiled and said "sure no problem." with that the group turned and continued on their way in silence.

As they walked further Ketto could feel eye's upon him and the occasional glance from the whisker marked youth and understood that he had asked for very dangerous piece of information at which he filed away for later, and decided to simply wait and watch to see what would come from the information he could gather simply from watching but would hold his tongue when regards to the subject unless he was certain of his findings, for now though he would simply enjoy his semi-freedom.

As they neared the gates of Konoha, Ketto could not take his eyes off of the immense wall that seemed to swallow the landscape as they approached, they seemed to be made of a pale tan stone that seemed to simply rise from the ground as though they were forced up from the very ground by an immense jutsu, and if Ketto was to hazard a guess he'd be right, the wall seemed a little worn in places and yet brand new in others and wondered why, but put it aside for later. He turned his attention then towards the massive gates that seemed to open welcomingly to all yet at the same time the subtlety was not lost to him either, we are strong, they seemed to say and it was almost like they could shut out the world it they chose to let no one past them.

Shaking himself from his thoughts Ketto turned to look at the rest of the group to see what they would do now.

And almost face planted as he saw Sakura trying to hold Naruto back from killing Sai for a comment he made about naruto's manhood, or lack thereof. One yamato got them separated he told them they needed to get to the tower using his scary face TM to get them to settle down.

After getting the rest of the team moving and signing Ketto into the village as a guest they headed out towards the back of the village, 'peh, village more like city' Ketto thought in distaste at the name of something so big being considered small. Hell the place he stayed before with his _keepers_ was smaller than this and it was a city. As he hopped across the rooftops with the rest of team Kakashi, as he learned they were called, he couldn't help but see the massive monument that was carved out of the cliff face at the back of the village, and had to suppress a snort as he thought 'talk about ego much' as he looked at the 40ft tall faces." What's with the big eyesore?" he asked pointing at the mountain.

Naruto was the first to reply by laughing, Ketto didn't know he was pointing at the last face on the mountain by happenstance.

"Those are the current and previous Hokage that have protected and governed the village since it was founded by the first Hokage" said Yamato while trying to keep a straight face himself.

Naruto snorted as he said "ya there the strongest ninja the leaf village has ever had, but your right about baa-chans face" before laughing again.

"Naruto that's disrespectful to Tsunade-sama" the resident pinkette abolished. Turning to Ketto she added "Have you never heard of the Hokage, or any kage for that matter?" she asked

"No, why should I have?"

That made Naruto stop without warning and whip around to face him, almost making everyone pile into him since he was in front.

"How could you not have heard of the Hokage before they are only the greatest legends in all of Konoha." The blonde ranted like a two year old. that is until Sakura smacked him in the back of the head sending him face down on the roof they were standing on.

"Baka don't stop like that we could have slammed into you"

"I can see how you would have Sakura-san what with your large forehead forcing you forward" commented the socially bankrupt member.

The look in Sakura's eyes as she heard those words even made yamato shiver slightly in fear, and he was an ANBU.

KA-POWWW "SHANNARO" the pissed medic screamed as she sent Sai flying for his foul mouth, conveniently in the direction of the tower.

She turned glareing to the rest of them as if dareing any of them to say another word but Naruto simply froze up and yamato simply sighed while ketto looked confused. 'mental note never mention her large forehead in a negative manner' thought ketto with a mild sweat drop.

"Well shall we continue on to Tsunade-sama" said yamato cheerfully trying to defuse the current situation, Naruto practically jumped at the word "shall" and was off and running, ketto simply shrugged and began running again while Sakura huffed and turned to move, yamato sighed and followed hoping nothing further would interrupt them.

About 3 minuets later found them in front of the tower where they found sai carefully pulling himself out of some wooden crates that were 'conveniently' out side the tower, sakura merely glared at him but left it at that, sai of course was supporting a large red welt on the side of his face which seemed to ad quite the contrast of colour to his rather pale complexion, eventually they all made it up to the Hokage office with no more fuss, or broken faces, as they entered the room Tsunade was waiting for them with her fingers interlocked looking at them as they lined up with ketto on the far left.

"Report" she barked

"Team Kakashi reporting back from recon mission at the Tenshi bridge" yamato stated in a very military fashion "mission status failed" at this Tsunade quirked an eyebrow but said nothing letting yamato continue his report, as the report went on she began to see why it was declared a failure and her heart went out to Naruto and sakura for seeing Saskue again and how he was so cold towards them but said nothing waiting until the meeting was over but she had other things to deal with first namely the new boy standing next to sakura.

"And that is everything Hokage-sama" Yamato finished

"I see, would you step forward please ketto? Was it?"

Ketto stepped forward slowly not sure how to conduct himself in front of the women, so he simply moved forward and bowed a little awkwardly, privately resisting the trained urge to go down his on knees as his _keepers _had forced him too, before righting himself and looking her in the eye with a calculating look trying to determine what she would do about him now that he was here.

Tsunade simply looked him over for a second taking note of his tight stance as though he was ready to flee any second before speaking, "you may relax here no one is going to hurt you" she started with but ketto simply looked on not moving he still felt uncomfortable here especially in front of this woman, Tsunade looked back but said nothing but filed away his behaviour for further observation later.

"so yamato mentioned that you would like a place to stay for a little while is that right?" ketto merely nodded once but again said nothing, Tsunade began to wonder if the boy spoke at all other than his name but ignored the thought for the moment. "Well I can make some arrangements for you if you like as well as seeing about getting you some new clothes since I'm sure you don't want to be wearing those forever." she gestured to the strange mismatched clothing he wore, a pair of blue jonin pants from yamato an orange t-shirt with the leaf symbol on it most likely Naruto's and a black half jacket that looked like Sai's, oddly though he wasn't wearing any shoes or sandals all in all It looked a little funny but Tsunade tried to remain professional.

Ketto bowed and finely spoke for the first time "I thank you for your kindness in helping me and I apologize for my behaviour but I'm unused to being treated like this"

Tsunade raised a brow and asked are you a feudal lords son or nobleman?"

"No a slave" was her only reply which got quite a few shocked looks around the room. Slavery was not unheard of in the elemental nations but it was certainly never out right seen before so needless to say Naruto and sakura were shocked to hear about some one who was a actually a slave for most of there life.

Tsunade simply looked at him in pity but said nothing, her looked angered ketto a little but he know it was not out of any form of spite or mockery but out of concern so he let it pass.

"Well if that is everything I will have you wait in the hall until I have the necessary things ready for you or you may tour the city for a while." the eldest blonde stated.

"I will take a look around but before I do." ketto turned to sai and returned the jacket he was wearing with a small bow and said "thank you for the use of your coat but I no longer need it so I return it to you"

Sai simply gave one of his fake smiles and accepted the jacket without a word

"Right, dismissed!" barked Tsunade

As every one began to file out of the room Naruto grabbed Ketto's arm declared "c'mon your coming with me to get some of the worlds greatest food, Ichiraku ramen" he shouted with far to much exuberance for Ketto's liking but did not force the issue and simply let the blonde pull him along although he did manage to get him to slow down some what.

-still in Tsunade's office-

"Sakura stay a moment"

"yes Tsunade-sama" the young medic replied as she approached her teacher curiously

"I want you to keep an eye on this young man, I'm concerned about him and what he will do in the city and around the people, the council will want to try and attack him as well if they don't already know about him, but just make sure he doesn't do anything he shouldn't, and make sure Naruto is careful as well I don't want him getting too attached to him if things go south." the platinum blonde said

"Permission to speak freely Tsunade-sama?" the pinkette asked

"you should know you don't have to ask that anymore Sakura."

"we'll I'm just wondering, why are you so concerned about this boy? What makes you not trust him? And why do you think it would be bad for him to be near the people?"

Tsunade looked at her apprentice carefully mulling her thoughts over in her mind before speaking "I've seen slaves before Sakura, met them, talked to them, and he does not act like a slave at least not a broken one so he may not have been one for long, but the main point is that he may be unstable to certain things or people of the wrong personality further more his former masters may try to claim him again and depending on the country we may have no choice but to return him."

At this Sakura looked scared then furious in the space of seconds showing Tsunade that that was not going to happen. Secretly Tsunade was pleased by this but made no show of it on her face.

"But before that happens, if, and that's a big if, he can prove a loyalty to Konoha and become a citizen here then he will be free. but again he must show his loyalty and get all the correct paperwork through first. Ill try to get it pushed through as fast as possible but it will still take some time." Tsunade finished

"I understand ill make sure he stays out of trouble, Naruto though I'm not so sure but ill be sure that he's ok."

"good dismissed."

-with Naruto and Ketto -

The sounds of crashes and bangs of pots and pans, and the enticing aroma of food assaulted Ketto's senses, the subtle salts the tangy broth and the sizzling of pork drew him in even more, these were the things that Ketto began to notice as he entered the small ramen stand called Ichiraku's.

As he and Naruto entered the small stand to eat Naruto gave a boisterous call of "heeeey old man give me 3 beef ramen and 2 pork to start!" "you got it Naruto!" was the reply he got from the old man behind the counter. he then turns to Ketto looking expectedly, Ketto looks at him for a moment before turning to the menu and saying "ill have the beef ramen please large." Naruto smiled broadly at him and said "that's a good one I have that all the time!"

Ketto simply gave a small nod at the comment before turning forward again to wait for his meal but before he could go into his own thoughts again Naruto spoke up again.

"sooo what do you think of Konoha so far it s pretty great yeah?" he said with a hint of pride in his voice about his home

Ketto tilted his head to the side thinking for a moment before replying "it is, large and crowded but not in a bad way but I am not really suited to answer your question adequately for I have not been in any other city or town before. All I know of is the small town I was raised in before I was… taken." he said the last part in a more quiet and sombre tone while looking down showing his reluctance to speak of the subject, which did not go beyond Naruto's notice, contrary to what most see of Naruto as a bumbling idiot this was not the case in reality that was a façade he put up to avoid being hurt further for being smart, true he was innocent in many subjects but he was far from stupid he saw many things others didn't and simply hid the observations behind his mask like smile to be reviewed later or on the fly. This particular talent was in full swing in battle but was still present in everything else as well just not as often, for this moment though he was watching Ketto very carefully, not because he did not trust him quite the opposite, he felt a kinship with him through the pain they both shared as being seen as less then you were, which was something Naruto knew all too well.

Too keep up appearances though Naruto replied with "gaahhh why do you have to talk so formally all the time, you could have just said yah it's great or not, not this long winded speech stuff geeze." he said this while animatedly waving his arms and making faces too show that he was only half serious in what he said but still got his point across.

Ketto for his part of things was confused by Naruto's display of emotion in almost everything he said but before he could say anything their order had come and as they took there food the chef behind the counter commented "who's your friend here Naruto I've never seen him before is he new around town?" "yah, he just got here with us today." the young blonde replied with a big grin.

"well don't be shy welcome to Konoha, my name is Tuechi Ichiraku and this is my daughter Ayame, and this is our stand as I'm sure you've guessed, and Naruto here is our best customer." the old man said with a big grin and holding out his hand which Ketto shook. "My name is Okami Ketto and I am pleased to meet you sir, Naruto has been most accommodating with showing me around the village, but I fear I may not be staying long."

"oh and why's that?"

"I'm not usually welcome in most places because of my past." Ketto stated with a down cast look.

"oh well if your worried about that I would say put that fear to bed, Konoha is a place to start over I should know, when I first came here years ago that's the way I felt especially after I met my wife and had Ayame here." Tuechi told him with a sincere grin.

Ketto simply looked at him sadly but with a small amount of hope too "thank you ill keep that in mind"

"Well good now eat up before it gets cold"

'maybe this will be the place I can start over.' with that small thought and a grin Ketto began his meal.

Thus ends chapter 3

So I know Im a horrible updater im really sorry but between two jobs having no internet and no power I have very little time to write so please bear with me, I will do my best to update more often but I make no garuntees so please hold on

Any way review and happy Halloween!


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